Sovereign Bank Donates $100,000 to Meeting Street

		Sovereign Bank donated $100,000 toward Meeting Street's new campus and National Center of Excellence in Providence. The new campus will feature a custom-designed building, which will include state-of-the-art classrooms, clinical facilities, a gymnasium, and an indoor therapeutic swimming pool. It will also feature outdoor play areas and athletic fields. Left to Right: Steve Issa, RI Market CEO, Sovereign Bank; John Kelly, Meeting Street President and CEO; and Frank Casale, SVP, Sovereign Bank. (PRNewsFoto/Sovereign Bank) PROVIDENCE, RI UNITED STATES

Funds to Support the Construction of Meeting Street's National Center of Excellence in Providence PROVIDENCE, R.I., June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Sovereign Bank (NYSE: SOV) has donated $100,000 to Meeting Street toward its Capital Campaign. The Power of Inclusion is the $15 million capital campaign to support the creation of Meeting Street's new campus and National Center of Excellence in Providence. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060615/PHTH029 ) The Meeting Street National Center of Excellence in Providence will serve as a national model of education and create an unprecedented degree of inclusion for all children. Meeting Street's new campus will feature one of the first fully inclusive elementary and middle schools in the nation that educates learners of all abilities, including students with severe and profound disabilities. As a national center of excellence, the new campus will also serve as a hub for research, training and ongoing professional development model for educators and therapists throughout the country. Meeting Street School will evolve into two schools -- a K-8 school and a high school, called The Grace School and The Carter School, respectively -- housed in a custom-designed 76,000-square-foot building situated on a seven-and-a-half-acre parcel in the heart of Providence, near the corner of Thurbers Avenue and Eddy Street. The building will include state-of-the-art classrooms and clinical facilities, a gymnasium, and an indoor therapeutic swimming pool. Forty percent of the campus will be green space. It will feature outdoor play areas, athletic fields, and fully accessible pathways -- all to be enjoyed by the entire community. "Sovereign Bank and its Team Members are proud to be associated with and support Meeting Street. All of the organizations Sovereign supports play important roles in the community. Meeting Street's commitment to its mission and the families they support is evidenced by the foresight of its President, staff and Board of Trustees to make its Center of Excellence a reality," explains Steven J. Issa, Rhode Island Market CEO for Sovereign Bank. Meeting Street is an internationally acclaimed educational innovator for learners of all abilities, from infancy through young adulthood. For six decades, Meeting Street has been a leader in designing and advocating for inclusion, early intervention, and educational and therapeutic services for children. Each year, Meeting Street supports more than 1,700 children and young adults and their families, providing personalized services to meet each individual's unique needs and learning style through its core programs: Meeting Street Early Intervention, Bright Futures Early Learning Center, The Children's Network, Meeting Street School, and Meeting Street Specialty Services. In late 2006, Meeting Street will move to our new expanded and custom-designed facility, located on a seven-and-a-half-acre site near the corner of Thurbers Avenue and Eddy Street in Providence. The Meeting Street National Center of Excellence will house all of our programs including The Grace School, one of the nation's first fully inclusive K-8 schools. Kindergarten and first grade classes are currently enrolling for Fall 2006. For more information, visit http://www.meetingstreet.org.